Decision due on new homes plan

An unpopular plan to build 145 new homes between Worcester and Stourport is set to be decided by councillors.

Miller Homes' plan to build a new estate on Areley Common has been recommended for approval and will be discussed at next week's northern area planning meeting of Malvern Hills District Council.

Outline permission for the homes was granted at appeal last year after initially being rejected by both Malvern Hills and Wyre Forest councils, and attracting more than 100 objections.

Changes to the plans including a new drainage strategy were then also approved.

Out of the 145 proposed properties, 58 will be affordable housing, marketed as either first homes or social rent.

The 58 would be made up of six one-bedroom maisonettes, 12 one-bed houses, 20 two-bedrooms houses, 18 three-bed houses and two four-bed houses.

The objections included concerns about traffic and a lack of public transport, as well as the impact on local schools, and dental and NHS practices.

Astley and Dunley Parish Council had objected to the proposal, saying it was concerned by the potential for surface flooding on nearby roads.

"This last winter the B4196 was flooded multiple times due to run-off from the site, and water overflowed the pond reaching to the doors of houses at the bottom of Longmore Hill," the parish council said in its consultation response.

But Worcestershire County Council, as the lead local flood authority, had no objection to the plan.

Worcestershire Highways said it had no objections and that the development would not have an adverse impact on highway safety.

Planning officers said: "The development would be a high-quality detailed design that would reflect the semi-rural, peri-urban characteristics of its location and provide a transition between the open countryside to the south and the built development at Stourport."

District planners will make a decision on the plans on 9 October.

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